Unstoppable Doom Patrol #7 review

It’s the finale of the mini-series starring the World’s Strangest Heroes, and goodness me, there are a lot of them. We have the classic quartet, several generations of recruits, a few trainees and, by the end of this issue, even villains lending a hand.

Classic nemesis General Immortus has given himself an upgrade, stealing the powers of the Candlemaker to become Eternal Flame. Flanked by Houngan and Monsieur Mallah, Eternal Flame is a massive threat and Robotman, Niles Caulder and Willoughby Kipling are in big trouble.

Elsewhere, the Chief, Elasti-Woman, Negative Man and other Patrol members and associates are tied up with the Brotherhood of Evil, sicced on them by Immortus as a distraction. And it’s working – radioed by Robotman to lend a hand, the Chief says she’s too busy. Intitially, anyway. She comes up with a plan that involves appealing to Sachiko, the young Japanese germophobe inside the Quiz, who can manifest any super power you don’t name. Negative Man Larry connects the Chief and Sachiko via his alien electricity nonsense, and the Chief’s Crazy Jane self can put her case.

Larry also proves useful in bringing Mento into the fight.

And poor man’s John Constantine Willoughby Kipling makes sure Cliff is up to scratch when it comes to dealing with the all-new, all-magical Immortus.

Eventually, the big fights conclude in the Patrol’s favour, but that’s when another headache shows up.

A touching team-up between two of the Patrol’s newer faces, though, gives the rest of the heroes a chance to get away. In true Doom Patrol tradition, they save they day but still end up feeling a little bit flat. And as we fade to black there’s a hint that the traitor within the team (all good teams need a traitor, that rule powered decades of Legion stories) has finally struck. Still, the story does end with a hopeful line.

And then continues, with an epilogue showing Eternal Flame plunging through the DC dimensions, coming to land in a very familiar place. And then encountering an all-too-familiar face.

As Cliff would put it, what the @#$%?!

Seriously, a surprise character at the close of a Doom Patrol mini-series should be a Doom Patrol character. The shock return of Negative Woman. Or Madame Rouge. Heck, I’d even take midget menace Giacomo over the sodding Batwoman Who Laughs? Does she have any fans? It’s bad enough having Peacemaker show up.

Ach, let’s accentuate the positive. I really enjoyed the resourcefulness of the Patrol in turning the tables on their foes, with inspiration and trust and friendship at the heart of their efforts.

OK, Mento’s heretofore unmentioned ultimate power reserves are a tad convenient but one way or the other the DCU’s scrappiest team would win, so why not? Mento has been a mess since he was introduced in the Sixties, so it’s nice to see him get his moment in the sun. Similarly, the rehabilitation of original Chief Niles continues nicely, while pretty much all the regulars get a cool moment. I especially enjoyed seeing Crazy Jane again, she’s taken a backseat to her alter the Chief in this mini – she should always be around manifesting her shared selves, not being locked away by one of them. Which isn’t to say I’m not a fan of the Chief, her commitment to the Patrol’s current ‘saving the world by saving the monsters’ is commendable.

Dennis Culver’s script is pacy and fun, though at times it under-explains plot points – for example, if you don’t know the nature of the Quiz you’ll be headscratching during the scene in Jane’s Underground. There’s been a lot of fan service in this series for we oldies but a book needs to bring in new fans if it’s to be a hit. He does get it right with the Candlemaker and Underground, both of which are well introduced.

Chris Burnham’s art is at its best in big, bombastic fight scenes, and that’s most of this issue. I mean, just look at this ‘here comes the Cavalry’ moment.

The storytelling is spot on, each featured character has their own body language, a visual personality, while the backgrounds are uniformly convincing and terrific. Brian Reber’s colours add to the success of the art, giving extra pop to proceedings – it’s not often a superhero comic is set outside at night, and Reber makes the most of the opportunity for fireworks. Letterer Pat Brosseau sets the words down with style, with General Imomortus getting a dramatic fresh font for his new voice.

Speaking of fonts, I love that the cover question is asked in the Golden and Silver Age Superboy logo font. Burnham and Reber’s image is pretty great too, I just love the swirling Negative Man.

All in all, I’d recommend this series to longtime fans of the Doom Patrol and adventurous new readers – perhaps I worry too much about accessibility, loads of TV shows these days are veritable puzzle boxes. This has been a well-conceived, well-executed story, with likeable and booable characters, great art and bags of potential for more. So let’s have more. The Unstoppable Doom Patrol is done, bring on the next adjective!